Want to be a newbie questions

[Valthanis]

I just have found out about Fantasy Craft and I have few questions.

I think I should give you some back ground on me and my gaming group. 

I have been player role-playing games since 79.  I started with D&D then AD&D.  I play almost every published system in the 80’s.  In the 90’s I really did not play much.  Then I started playing again when D&D 3.0 came out.  Since then I have play a lot of system.  Some of the follow are ones I like: Pathfinder, Savage Worlds and the Dresden Files RPG/Fate system.

I am one of a couple people that take turns GMing for the group of about 7 people.  My current campaign will end next year and I am interested in change system.  In the campaign I am running we are using the Pathfinder game system, but one or two of my players does not like it as much as other system we have played.  We have played a few systems.  The ones we like have been: Savage Worlds, 7th Sea and Hero System (Champions). 

I also research Fantasy Craft a bit.  A lot of people talk about the mechanics of the game and how they are different from D&D 3.5.  I am interested in asking about game play.  So here are my questions:

1)   Combat speed.  How quick is combat?  I am talk about a typical combat session with 4-6 players in a normal fight.
Rating:
   1 = Hero System (Champions) speed taking a couple hours per fight
   2 = D&D Pathfinder speed.  30 min to 1 hour
   3 = Savage Worlds. Less than 30 minute

2)   Does it reward story telling for the players and how?

3)   I read the Fantasy Craft did a good job with some classes being good at combat and other being good outside of combat.  Do the non-combat classes feel like they are adding something to the battle even if they are not the one hacking off the Dragon’s leg?  And does the fighter type feel like they have no change to success in a social encounter?

4)   I read a review that talked about classes having roles.  Does a party need a spread of roles in a party?  Or can you get by with 3 defenders/support classes?

5)   How is experience rewarded?

[Antilles]

Welcome to the forums Valthanis, I'm sure you'll find it a nice and welcoming place, so don't be afraid to ask questions.

Here's some quick and dirty answers, I'm sure others will be along shortly to give fuller and more nuanced opinions.

1). Around 2, I'd say. Less fiddly bits than D&D, but more options all around. So slower in the beginning, before everyone is familiar with all the different actions they can take, but once they know what their characters can reasonably do it should go a little faster.

2). Yes, primarily through the Action dice mechanic. Basically, they are awesome points. You get a few at the beginning of each session, then you get them from doing awesome things, and use them to make your character do even more awesome things.

3). Basically, if you can spare even one feat for combat purposes, any social character will have an impact on combat (there's a feat that lets you use a full action to let someone else take an attack action, and it's part of a tree so eventually it's pretty damn good), as well as actions that use social skills to mess with the enemy (Threaten, Taunt, Distract, Feint, etc) that will enable a purely social character to make things easier for the combat characters. A bit harder to go the other way around, but both Intimidate and Sense Motive are fine skill choices for a combat character, and will let him contribute somewhat to social settings. And if you want to mix the two, there are ways and means (primarily the Gallant expert class, that is both a Combatant and a Talker).

4). Roles are more of a 'hey players, this is a shorthand for what the class is good at' type of thing, instead of the classic healer/tank/dps type roles. Basically, as long as someone picks up the proper skills, you can run a group without a dedicated Talker, and even a group consisting only of Talkers, Solvers and Specialists can be good at combat if they're built for it.

5). An adventure has a list of objectives, that each give a certain amount of XP. NPC's have an XP value, that roughly corresponds to how powerful that NPC is. Add those together, multiply by the adventure's threat level, and that is how much XP is awarded.

[Krensky]

I just have found out about Fantasy Craft and I have few questions.

Understandable.

The ones we like have been: Savage Worlds, 7th Sea and Hero System (Champions). 

It's been a while, but I seem to recall Alex, Pat, and Scott had done some work on 7th Sea back in the AEG days.

1)   Combat speed.  How quick is combat?  I am talk about a typical combat session with 4-6 players in a normal fight.
Rating:
   1 = Hero System (Champions) speed taking a couple hours per fight
   2 = D&D Pathfinder speed.  30 min to 1 hour
   3 = Savage Worlds. Less than 30 minute

I'd say it's a 2 to a 2.5. Not as fast as SW, but I typically find it faster then 3.X. The first few times it may run slower then 3.X though. Although similar, a number of things are different, you'll spend more then time then normal looking things up, etc. It also takes a bit, or it did for me, to get used to adding damage to a standard NPC, dividing by two, and adding 10. I find a tracking spreadsheet helps but isn't even remotely necessary after some practice. Also as Antilles said, there are a lot of choices for things to do in combat.

2)   Does it reward story telling for the players and how?

I would say it less rewards the players then gives the GM ways to do it. A subtle but important distinction.

First, the Origin system lets you build some character back story right in. Talent (or Species, which is really just a different name for a Talent) is what you are. Strong, Elf, Dwarf, Cunning, Striking, etc. Out of the book, non-humans have one Talent per species. Humans have a lot, lot more. I don't have my book handy, so someone else will have to give a number. Nothing stops you from making up more talents for the different species though if you want to use that as a tool for customizing different subspecies rather then feats. The second part of Origin is your Specialty, which what you do. Most D&D classes are listed as specialties. So are thing like Noble, Cultist, Warden, Archer, etc. So the game gives you mechanical backup for whatever you se as your character's background or 'job'.

Second, there's a mechanic called Sub-Plots which really is a way for the players to tell you want they want you to add to their upcoming adventures.

Third, most XP is from achieving objectives, which include those related to their Sub-Plots.

Last, good storytelling, RP, table gags, etc all deserve action dice. Awesome accomplishments and actions in the world deserve bonus Reputation
 

3)   I read the Fantasy Craft did a good job with some classes being good at combat and other being good outside of combat.  Do the non-combat classes feel like they are adding something to the battle even if they are not the one hacking off the Dragon’s leg?  And does the fighter type feel like they have no change to success in a social encounter?

A lot of the answer to this depends on how the GM runs the game and how the Player builds his character. That said, the non-combat character will typically have stuff to do in a fight. A Keeper might focus on Medicine, keeping people patched up, a Courtier might (and arguably should) be abusing the Threaten action to do damage via harsh language, etc. The 'non-fighting' classes have half BAB, most classes (including fighting classes) have three-quarter BABs, three base classes have full BABs. There are ways to reduce the impact of being a half-BAB class and NPC defenses don't rise as fast. As for the combatant out of combat, well the lowest number of skills is 4, the game doesn't reward dumping stats that much so most characters will get 4 or 5 skill points a level, and all characters get to choose two skills at creation that are always class skills. There are also a number of options that will give you a 2 for one effect where you place a point in one skill and the other skill rises as well.

4)   I read a review that talked about classes having roles.  Does a party need a spread of roles in a party?  Or can you get by with 3 defenders/support classes?

Roles are less about party design and more about class theme. The Courtier class is a Talker/Backer, for instance. It's not telling you that it fills some notional hole in the party design matrix, it's describing what the class does. It's more like: Play this class if doing these things sounds appealing. For example:

Party Role: Talker/Backer. Your golden tongue gives your party a decisive edge whenever a changed mind or a new perspective might save the day (or your skins). You can influence anyone, anywhere — even the heat of battle — and the incredible diversity of your abilities ensures your party is never without  options.

5)   How is experience rewarded?

Most comes from completing objectives. Some comes from overcoming NPCs (not necessarily killing or fighting, just overcoming), some from traps.

Basically, every XP generating doohickey has a Base XP reward. You add all those up, multiply by the TL (typically average party level plus the Menace adjustment) and that's your XP reward. It works this way primarily because NPCs and most other threats and challenges scale with the Threat Level.

IF you mean in a experience playing the game sense, there's less system mastery issues. It's hard to make a bad character. Some parts of the game are subtle and reward thought outside the box though.

[Valthanis]

Antilles and Krensky , thank you for your replies.
 
I thought of a couple more questions. 

6) Is there character management software?  Help you create and maintain characters.

I like the paizo adventures (both modules and Adventure paths)
7) Is it easy to convert a pathfinder or 3.5 modules to Fantasy Craft?

8 ) What I was reading about Fantasy Craft it is world/campaign independent.  Is this correct?

9) Is it easy to convert player character to Fantasy Craft or would it be better to create new character?

[Crafty_Pat]

The ones we like have been: Savage Worlds, 7th Sea and Hero System (Champions). 

It's been a while, but I seem to recall Alex, Pat, and Scott had done some work on 7th Sea back in the AEG days.

Yup. I wrote the Castille book, plus chunks of many others.

[Blankbeard]

Antilles and Krensky , thank you for your replies.
 
I thought of a couple more questions. 

6) Is there character management software?  Help you create and maintain characters.

I like the paizo adventures (both modules and Adventure paths)
7) Is it easy to convert a pathfinder or 3.5 modules to Fantasy Craft?

It's not that hard.  Here is a thread where people do just that.  I'm sure they can help if you have any problem.  NPCs can be converted using the information in Chapter 6 pg 295, OGL Conversions.  Also, the entirety of Chapter 7 before you start converting adventures. 

8 ) What I was reading about Fantasy Craft it is world/campaign independent.  Is this correct?

Yes, there are numerous conversions of D&D worlds and the Adventurer's Companion contains 3 worlds.

9) Is it easy to convert player character to Fantasy Craft or would it be better to create new character?

Generally, I'd recommend remaking the character.

[Psion]

9) Is it easy to convert player character to Fantasy Craft or would it be better to create new character?

You can certainly guesstimate a conversion, but the thing I found when converting some characters (I converted the pregens from Goodman Games DCC 51 boxed set) was that while the classes map fairly directly, the origins require you to make decisions based on stuff that's not on the character sheet of a bare-bones 3.5 character sheet, but adding a bit more depth to the character in the process.

Of course, some of the classes in FC don't map directly from D&D/PF classes, so you might find it a bit fun just to see what's out there. In particular, whereas a majority of the 3.5/PF character classes have magic, in FC a majority don't, so you'll be exploring more variety for non-magical abilities.

On the other hand, one thing you will have problems converting is characters with shape changing abilities: druids and PF transmutation specialists, for example. FC doesn't cotton to much latitude in the shapeshifting department in the core book for PCs. Spellbound may change this somewhat, we hope...

[Alien Rope Burn]

Also keep in mind there are a lot of subtle differences from 3.5; it's important not to make assumptions based on 3.5. Ones I've run into:

1) There is no charge maneuver, per se (though the Charging feat chains grant equivalents).

2) Int bonus and other bonuses that improve skill points are retroactive.

3) Saving Throws do not auto-fail on 1.

And so on. It's really 3e redone from the ground up, a lot of the skeleton is similar, but the innards are very different.

[Krensky]

6) Is there character management software?  Help you create and maintain characters.

No. Although I find it's not as much a 'necessity' as in 3.X/PF. The main thing that sends me to PCGen for those is making sure that skill points are spent properly and that synergies and magic items adjust numbers properly. Fantasy Craft don't have those issues. The Int bonus for skill points is retroactive, there (by default) aren't any 'spend two points for one rank' issues, and synergy is simplified and more flexible in application, while also being more limited in effect.

I like the paizo adventures (both modules and Adventure paths)
7) Is it easy to convert a pathfinder or 3.5 modules to Fantasy Craft?

As mentioned, there's a thread for that. I'm running Runelords at the moment on the boards here, look for the Burnt Offerings threads in the Play by Post forum. Frankly, I feel Golarion works at least as well, if not better, under Fantasy Craft as Pathfinder. Monster conversion is straightforward, although they can often be improved upon under FC. I'm still considering how to convert haunts, whether to treat the as NPCs or Traps. There's nothing too hard about it though.

8 ) What I was reading about Fantasy Craft it is world/campaign independent.  Is this correct?

Yep. There's a few mini-settings published. One 'standard' high fantasy (Sun Chasers) that's got some elements of Riverworld (geography), Tolkien, and fairy tales. One that's focused on intrique and conspiracy dureing the fall of a fantasy version of ancient Rome. A sword-and-sworcery setting that's best described as Plains Indians fighting the Aztecs. The last is a realty straight forward darkish fantasy Europe setting.  The first three are in the Adventurer Companion, which is worth it for the extra player options alone, and the last is in the back of the Time of High Adventure book which compiles three linked modules. There's also a full setting (Iron Dynasty) coming from Reality Blurs. They've also put out six adventures too. Plus there's a big section in the book dedicated to helping you build your own world and by extension convert others.

9) Is it easy to convert player character to Fantasy Craft or would it be better to create new character?

Eh.... Not so much. I'd recommend trying to reimagine the character in FC, rather then try and convert. For instance, say you have a Ranger in FC. Now, the simplest and most obvious choice would be to take the Ranger Specialty and levels in the Scout class. However, if your character is (not necessarily mechanically) more focused on kicking ass with two weapons then nature or magic, taking levels Soldier in soldier and picking up the Two-Weapon feats might be more fitting. If magic and being one with nature is more the schtick, then Priest with the appropriate Alignment might be more fitting. A urban investigator might be better served abandoning the Ranger specialty for Warden and the Emisary class in the AC. Any of these can have a Animal Companion.

One of the better ways to make a fighter-mage is to take a combat friendly specialty like Fighter and straight levels in Mage until you can take levels in Runeblade.

If the primary thing that had you make a Barbarian was Rage, well, that's an ability any character can have (it's feat based) so it opens things up a lot on the design space.

In my Runelords game I have a Priest of Iomedae who plays more like a Paladin of the Inheritor, and a Mage who took Alignment (Iomedae) who plays like a Cleric.

[Gentry]

3) Saving Throws do not auto-fail on 1.

So far as I can tell, no d20 roll in FC auto-fails on a 1 (saves, attacks, skills, etc.). It's usually a failure, simply because it's low, but it's not specifically an auto-fail (and an application of action dice can sometimes convert a 1 into a success if the rolls fall right).

[Krensky]

3) Saving Throws do not auto-fail on 1.

So far as I can tell, no d20 roll in FC auto-fails on a 1 (saves, attacks, skills, etc.). It's usually a failure, simply because it's low, but it's not specifically an auto-fail (and an application of action dice can sometimes convert a 1 into a success if the rolls fall right).

Similarly, nothing (even attacks) auto-hits on a 20. Also, if a Error or Threat is not also a miss/failure or hit/success respectively it can't be activated as a Critical.

[Catodon]

I have been player role-playing games since 79.  I started with D&D then AD&D.  I play almost every published system in the 80’s.  In the 90’s I really did not play much.  Then I started playing again when D&D 3.0 came out.  Since then I have play a lot of system.  Some of the follow are ones I like: Pathfinder, Savage Worlds and the Dresden Files RPG/Fate system.

Good to see another veteran on the boards

I am one of a couple people that take turns GMing for the group of about 7 people.  My current campaign will end next year and I am interested in change system.  In the campaign I am running we are using the Pathfinder game system, but one or two of my players does not like it as much as other system we have played.  We have played a few systems.  The ones we like have been: Savage Worlds, 7th Sea and Hero System (Champions). 

My group is mostly veterans with 20+ years of RPG experience. I haven’t played much 3.5 and no pathfinder but my current group have and they were over it. This made another d20 game a hard sell. Recently, though I was about to sneak a one off using pregens into one session. This gave me an opportunity to showcase the systems flexibility and demonstrate differences from d20. It seemed to go well. Perhaps you could try something similar. PM me if you want my materials from that session.

1)   Combat speed.  How quick is combat?  I am talk about a typical combat session with 4-6 players in a normal fight.
Rating:
   1 = Hero System (Champions) speed taking a couple hours per fight
   2 = D&D Pathfinder speed.  30 min to 1 hour
   3 = Savage Worlds. Less than 30 minute

I ran one combat. The play was very smooth even with players who had never seen the system before (though most have been in rpg for 20+ years). The combat if anything was a little short.

2)   Does it reward story telling for the players and how?

AD and xp for objectives including ‘sub-plots’. In my one game I found it hard to judge when to give out AD. The recommended rate is about 1 per 30min. This is hard to keep up at first, I think the key might be to reward storytelling. Also in this first session players didn’t spend AD a lot (though one volunteered that he really like the control AD gave him.

3)   I read the Fantasy Craft did a good job with some classes being good at combat and other being good outside of combat.  Do the non-combat classes feel like they are adding something to the battle even if they are not the one hacking off the Dragon’s leg?  And does the fighter type feel like they have no change to success in a social encounter?

In short YES. I found it helpful to keep telling the players to skim the list of combat actions on the combat page of the character sheet.

4)   I read a review that talked about classes having roles.  Does a party need a spread of roles in a party?  Or can you get by with 3 defenders/support classes?

FC characters have better general competence than AD&D ones. As a an experiment one of my pregens was designed to play like a AD&D fighter, it was actually kinda hard to get a character that focused. So yes there are roles but all characters can bring something to any situation. Even my AD&D style dwarf fighter had incredible Resolve which has uses in political situations.

5)   How is experience rewarded?

Killing monsters and completing story objectives. Coin and magic items are their own reward. For spot rewards use AD.

8 ) What I was reading about Fantasy Craft it is world/campaign independent.  Is this correct?

Us old timers love to biuld our own worlds.
FC offers the freedom to build your own worlds and tweak the rules to support them. My (little used) world is an early Bronze Age ‘First Age’ where elves and dragons dominate the world, humans are rare, and the gods constantly meddle. But this is only one example of what is possible The Adventure companion has a gritty iron age Rome knock-off, a fairly standard fantasy world, and a central American sword and sorcery.

The only other thing I can say is: FC is the product that has finally enabled me to put aside my beloved AD&D  collection.

[Psion]

5)   How is experience rewarded?

Killing monsters and completing story objectives. Coin and magic items are their own reward. For spot rewards use AD.

Not quite right. XP is awarded for defeating NPCs, inside or outside of combat. So if you (for example) beat the rap your opponent has been pressing against you in court, that works too.

[Krensky]

That tense negotiation with the Dragon? You get his XP for that too. Of course things work like that in 3.X, but most people forget that.

[Catodon]

5)   How is experience rewarded?

Killing monsters and completing story objectives. Coin and magic items are their own reward. For spot rewards use AD.

Not quite right. XP is awarded for defeating NPCs, inside or outside of combat. So if you (for example) beat the rap your opponent has been pressing against you in court, that works too.

yep, got lost between my brain and my typing finger.